[Creative Expert]

Originally Posted by onesummer

interesting, and where might these "legit contests and book submissions" be?

and, not to be harsh, but instead of sitting around on a forum complaining about people who enter such contests, why not spend that time marketing yourselves better, improving your skills, etc. etc. ? To me, you should be out there promoting yourself to the right clients, telling them why they should go with you instead of holding a contest. Or, if you're really gung-ho about this NO!SPEC stuff, you're going to have to go at it another way other than simply blogging or talking on forums. You won't get anything done doing it this way.

Hello,

I'll answer your last question first. Obviously you don't know me or my background because I'm sure you would have asked a completely different question. Let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I've been in Visual Communication Design (Graphic Design) for over 15 years. I've worked with small, large and in-between businesses as well as with large corporations. I've worked both in-house and independent. I've won awards for my work, judged legit design contests, written articles, started industry related meet-up groups, advise and critque student's portfolios, participated in mentoring, and I am on an advisory board of our local college's Graphic Design Program.

There are many channels for getting the word out about the hazards of spec work and participating in forums is just one of them. I happen to also promote NO!SPEC on blogs, articles, colleges, presentations, with my clients, with my peers, my friends and family, etc. I do not just sit around and complain. I'm very active and very passionate about the industry I work in. I'm sure you would be too if your livelihood depended on it.

The only way to get the message out is to educate people about spec work. And I mean everyone, not just clients because as designers we should know better and it is our duty to educate others including buyers of design because, frankly, many of them really don't understand that this is not how business is done. You don't see doctors, lawyers, plumbers, or anyone else doing it do you? What they will do is what is called pro-bono work and this is one of the ways that ethic driven designers will do too instead of spec work.

Before you start making hasty judgments about NO!SPEC, I highly recommend visiting the site to see for yourself. It really is quite amazing the surmountable accomplishments this group has done for our industry. And yes, part of the success has been using channels like forums.

Now to answer your first question, visit NO!SPEC for more information about legit contests. Also visit Jeff's site to find a large list of book submission information. Besides these two avenues people can also check out Tom's ProBono articles on BoDo. And one other avenue is bartering. This is where you exchange your work with your client's work. One of my clients is a massage therapist and I'll tell you I love trading with her.

Please don't take my comments as attacking because they are not meant to be. They are offered in hope that designers and buyers of design will understand and make better ethical decisions when working with our industry.